


The price I'm willing to pay

by astracrits



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:41:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26278831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astracrits/pseuds/astracrits
Summary: Balthus has made his decision, but Yuri is wondering if it's actually the right choice.





	The price I'm willing to pay

“Are you really thinking of going to that place? Are you dumb or something? You know you’re going to get beat up if you decide to show up with absolutely no money.”

“I don’t care. I know I’ll charm my way so they can give me more time to pay off my loan. No worries, boss. If all fails I’ll just take my jacket off and give them a peek of the goods.”

For a man such as Balthus, some things were extremely easy.

He and his house’s leader, Yuri, stood at a corner of the Abyss. They talked nonchalantly about whatever crossed their mind, without actually listening to what was being said. Neither of them had the energy to engage in logical discussion, not even joke around as they always did.

But there was a particular phrase that resonated in Yuri’s mind through the whole thing, even if he wasn’t paying attention.

_ “I’ll be going outside the monastery for a while, gotta ask those loaners more time to pay off my debt.” _

That phrase was what brought him back to reality, made him sharp as he had always been. Yuri’s eyes shot up, his posture corrected and his heart skipped a beat. Normally he wouldn’t be concerned about the big brute, but this particular time was special.

“Wait, hold on. The loaners from near the Alliance territory you told me about?”

Yuri’s question snapped Balthus out of his trance as well. “Y-yeah, those same ones, why?”

“Are you sure about this? You know they are some of the most ruthless loaners, right?” He was hoping his words would strike some sense into him.

But Balthus was not getting it. “Yeah, so?” He said, then, he flexed one arm. “You know I’m even more ruthless.”

“I don’t think you’re getting the point here.” The flamboyant leader pressed his fingers on the bridge of his nose, already annoyed and knowing the conversation was going nowhere. “But I’m also tired of explaining why this is a bad idea. Just promise me you’re going to be careful, alright? I don’t want to go on retrieving your gigantic body, I can’t carry you by myself.”

At the silly response, Balthus began laughing. He was listening to everything Yuri said. He knew perfectly well what he was getting into by going; what he got into when he asked for that money.

He knew better than anyone just how dangerous it was.

And for that same reason he didn’t ask Yuri to come with him. Normally, Balthus would ask his friend to accompany him so he’s not totally screwed up by the contracts and all that stuff, however, this particular time, his words were all the leader got. He never asked him to go with him, he never even talked about the laws and rules, not even the amount of money he got. All that Balthus ever mentioned—and he mentioned because Yuri insisted so much—was who they were and where they were.

Eventually, the intrepid leader figured out their identities, but it was already late to convince Balthus not to ask for money.

As the black-haired man left the monastery’s abyss, he had a big smile on his face, one that showed much more confidence than what he usually showed. It was a clear sign of desperation and even fear, but only a few people knew what that smile meant, and luckily, those three people were down below.

Balthus quickly left the premises of Garreg Mach with a small bag in hand and his trusty knuckles tied with a chain around his waist. It would be some days before he reached the outskirts of the Alliance territory, and he would need all the time he can have to meditate and reserve his strength, just in case things got ugly.

***

A hit was the first thing Balthus was greeted with.

Multiple voices resounded through his skull then. The sack over his head was pulled abruptly, and his eyes needed to take a while to adjust to the light right in front of him, but he knew for certain, he was in the right place.

“You losers seriously had to… use whatever that thing was to put me to sleep and take me here?” He had to chuckle. It was dumb that they’d need to use that. “Let me guess, you’re the Von Lije family that loaned me that money, right?” Even though he was already sure that they were, he still needed to ask.

Better to be safe than end up being kidnapped by the wrong loaners.

“Of course we are, you owe us money, remember?” The voice sounded so… typically like a villain. These were the people he needed to see, now that was one hundred percent sure.

“Well, I do owe money to A LOT of other people,” what was he even saying? They didn’t need to know that. “I-I mean…”

Balthus looked at the man directly in front of him. He had disgusting features: a crooked nose, some broken teeth, scars all over his body--though he did have big muscles. He didn’t know if he was just the brawns, or the leader of the loaners. “You got money on this bag here?” He said, his breath was terrible.

It then hit Balthus, his bag wasn’t tied to his hips anymore, neither was the chain he put over his chest, his coat was gone too. He looked around for a bit, quickly scanning the room to see at least five burly men to his front and to his sides. Who knows how many others were behind him.

His bag was on a table at the right corner of the square room, but his gauntlets were nowhere to be seen. Despite the obvious disadvantage and the ugly odds, Balthus was against, he wasn’t nervous or anxious, he had a smile on his face that showed his teeth, somewhat bloodied by his broken lip. “Yeah, there’s money there, you can take it.”

At the response, a slender-looking man behind some of the burlier men spoke. “Nice, a pleasure doing business, mister Von Albrecht.” Balthus recognized that man, he was there when he asked for his loan. He saw him walk over to the table and quickly open his bag. “Wait, what the hell?”

That made everybody, including three men from behind Balthus, to run to the table and see what was in the bag. Balthus took advantage of the moment to stand, jump, and fall over himself to break the chair. 

“There’s nothing in here!” Exclaimed the slender man. “Nothing but food and a few coins. Ugh, get him!” He screamed then.

Everybody turned around from the noises of the breaking chair, and they were all running towards Balthus, who ran to the back of the room and put his hands up. “Whoa, whoa, stop!” He decided to play for a moment, just so he could think of a quick plan.

“Now what?” Responded the big, burly man.

Balthus stood silent for a couple of seconds. He didn’t know what to say that would make them believe him, really. The talker of the group was Yuri, or even Hapi or Constance, not Balthus. He had always been the muscles to beat down all the other idiots.

So he responded with the only thing he could think of, “could you please give me more time to pay you guys back?” It was plain and simple.

“Please,” he heard his answer from the back. “You’ve had enough time to pay back the loan with interest. Now, have you or have you not the money?”

“I don’t…”

“Then we have nothing more to discuss.” His tone was decisive, the pity could be heard easily. “Men, if you please. Kill him.”

The whole room seemed to explode then. Everybody ran towards Balthus, sticks and fists at the ready. “Bring it on, idiots!” He replied, already punching the lights out of one of the men.

He dodged and rolled to the side, evading incoming attacks. Balthus’ fighting style wasn’t the dodging type, but in a situation like this, he needed to measure his options so he wouldn’t lose that easily.

Delivering a counter-punch that knocked a guard out, Balthus lunged to the opposite side he dodged into, throwing everybody out of balance and allowing him to land another punch. The fight was resonating through the entire room, as well as Balthus’ punches booming and the screams of the defeated grunts.

There was a slight smile on the brawler’s lips. Despite his current situation and the fact that he was probably screwed, he was feeling chipper. Gods, he loved fighting and everybody who knew him knew that. Balthus wasn’t known as the king of grappling just for nothing. He had to show his stuff to keep his title.

Yes, truly some things were really easy for him.

Nevertheless, nobody was a one-man army, not if they didn’t start to get overwhelmed at some point. More men started coming from some room behind the skinny man. If Balthus had had his gauntlets, everything would’ve been okay, but they were still missing and so, he had trouble.

“Aww, COME ON!” He exclaimed, quickly casting a couple of nosferatus to heal himself. “I just asked for a little extension on my payment, are you idiots gonna keep coming?”

Balthus got no response whatsoever, which told him that the fight would keep going on. He wished his partners of the Wolves were there with him--even if it was just Yuri, but he was all alone and he needed to press on.

With another heavy punch, Balthus knocked more enemies as he continued his advance. If he could defeat the skinny man in the back, he would have gained the advantage. He wasn’t sure if he would make it, so he thought of perhaps taking him as a hostage--which really wasn’t Balthus’ style, but he would have to make do. Whatever it took to get that loan.

But then again, why was getting that loan that important? Balthus knew for sure that he owed so much money to so many other sharks.

Ahhh… it wasn’t important to him, to be honest. Or perhaps he forgot why he needed the time, but Balthus wasn’t going to think twice about that.

He blocked a body blow--courtesy of his chiselled abs, and then countered, opening the way for him to run towards the skinny leader.

But before he could get closer, he felt a blow to the side of his head.

Suddenly he went limp, and the last things Balthus could feel were additional hits everywhere. The last thing he could hear was the ugly laughter of all the grunts.

***

“Ugh… man, that was a rough beating.” Those were the first words Balthus said when he woke up. He didn’t know how many hours passed, and he hadn’t opened his eyes yet. He simply rolled onto his back, trying to not focus on the pain all over his body. “Those dumbasses definitely got me good.”

There were definitely a few ribs broken, he felt his face was swollen and he couldn’t move his leg yet, but Balthus never whined. He brought up his left hand, which he could still move, up to his face first. He needed to save the goods.

The warm light of his heal spell felt more amazing than words could describe at that moment. The breath of relief that came shortly after was glorious as well, and that was only the face.

When he could open his eyes, Balthus saw he was right in the place where the loan sharks first grabbed him. He quickly cast another healing spell on his chest area so it wouldn’t hurt too much when he turned his head to the right.

His small sack was there, as well as his gauntlets and a little note under a rock.

_ Consider your debt paid, we don’t want anything to do with you ever again. _

“AWW HELL YEAH!” Was the scream that followed next, then it was Balthus standing up with a jump, ignoring the intense pain shooting through his body due to the adrenaline. “Hahahah, now that my debt is cleared, I think I might ask for a little money!”

Some things never change.


End file.
